According to the results of financial activity of Sberbank of Russia in the first half of 2008, Bank’s total credit portfolio increased by RUR 710.7 bln and reached the level of RUR 4 814.6 bln. As compared with the results of the first half of 2007 profit before taxation has increased by 39.6% and was equal to RUR 91.bln. Bank’s net profit as a result of the first half of 2008 was equal to RUR 66.6 bln. And on July, 25 Sberbank of Russia published the financial accounting according to International standards of the Financial Accounting over three months 2008, containing the report on the results of CJSC PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit review. According to the accounting data, Sberbak of Russia assets by International standards of the Financial Accounting as of April 1, 2008 was equal to RUR 5 231.8 bln; net profit by International standards of the Financial Accounting over the first quarter 2008 made RUR 31.1 bln, which is by 16.2% higher than the corresponding figure of the first quarter 2007. Profitability of bank’s assets (ROAA) totaled 2.45% in the first quarter 2008.

OJSC Tatneft On July 4, 2008 there was a joint enterprise of OJSC Tatneft and Preiss-Daimler Group on glass fiber production was founded in the special economic zone Alabuga.

Over the first half of 2008 OJSC Tatneft produced 16 271 622 tons of oil or 101.4% on the corresponding period of the previous year; 374 òthousand meters were bored and 227 oil wells were given to customers and a capital reconstruction of 1 284 wells was conducted.

Review of Most Important Issues Considered at the Meetings of the Government of the Russian Federation in July M. Goldin In July 2008 the most important issues that were considered at the meetings of the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation were the draft laws aimed at administration barriers reduction when conducting entrepreneurial activity.

On 14 July at the meeting of the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation the draft laws aimed at administration barriers reduction when conducting entrepreneurial activity were considered.

1. Draft of the Federal Law “On making changes to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation in connection with provision of replacement possibility of compulsory certification with the conformity declaration” The main aim of the draft law mentioned was making the norms of the legislative acts of the Russian Federation more accurate in the part when they deal with the introduction of compulsory certification of some kinds of goods to provide the possibility of use, in case it is reasonable, conformity declaration instead of compulsory certification. Besides, the draft law eliminates some contradictions between some statements of the legislative acts and norms of the Federal Law “On technical regulation”.

The draft law envisages making changes to 19 legislative acts. The main subject of changes is the norms aimed at provision of the possibility for the use of two forms of conformity attestation: conformity declaration and compulsory certification instead of the single form envisaged earlier – compulsory certification.

2. Draft of the Federal Law “On protection of the rights of economic entities and individual entrepreneurs when conduction state and municipal control (supervision)” Not only do existing duplications of functions between the federal and regional departments, superfluity of qualifying standards for entrepreneurs, lack of well-grounded approaches to prove the necessity of government interference into the economy not provide safety of goods (jobs, services) to the full extent, but they also increase entrepreneurs’ expenses, lowering their competitive ability.

The main idea of the draft law is to improve the existing system of the planning control (supervision). All kinds of entrepreneurial activity are subject to planning control (supervision) no more than once in three years, excluding requisitioning envisaged by the law project. It is suggested to maintain other standard periodicity taking seasonality into account only for control and supervision measures for objects of social importance – for this purpose the law project offers a closed list of the objects mentioned (patient care institutions, social security institutions, preschool institutions, educational institutions and other institutions).

The law project envisages mainly informative procedure for the beginning of the entrepreneurial activity - making all economic entities and individual entrepreneurs obliged to submit a notification on the beginning of the entrepreneurial activity before the start of entrepreneurial activity conduction (or some kinds of activity) on conformity to qualifying standard (federal, regional or municipal), set for the kind of activity in question by the existing legislation.

Activity in the following spheres is subject to notification on the beginning of the entrepreneurial activity:

hotel services rendering as well as services on temporary dwelling and accommodation; personal service rendering to the population; catering services rendering made through the objects of a catering organization;

retail trade; wholesale trade; commercial passenger transportation by motor-vehicles accommodating no more than 20 people (excluding the case when the activity mentioned is carried out to meet own needs of the economic entity of the individual entrepreneur); commercial transportation of freights of more than 2.5 ton weight by motor-vehicles (excluding the case when the activity mentioned is carried out to meet own needs).

Besides, the draft law establishes the full list of data necessary to be included in the notification (environmental, life and health protection).

To check the accuracy of the data included in the notification and to organize the state control (supervision) over their timely submission (change, renewal, supplementation) the applicants are proposed to introduce the corresponding norms for the responsibility of the economic entities (in the form of warnings and fines) for submission of inaccurate data or untimely submission of notifications to the Code on administrative offence.

To verify the data included in the notifications selective check-ups based on clearly defined criteria and grounds are to be conducted.

The notion of check-up is introduce by the norms of the draft law – it includes two kinds of check-ups:

documentary and field ones. Whereas earlier the body of the government control (supervision) could institute any kind of check-ups at its own discretion, now the law project establishes the differentiation of possibility for organization and conduction of check-ups depending on the kind of control (supervision) implemented. At the same time field check-up is carried out only in case the conduction of the documentary check-up is insufficient to prove violation of existing legislation.

The draft law makes considerable changes to the ideology of implementation of the non-planned government and municipal control (supervision) over the subjects of entrepreneurial activity. Thus, the draft law establishes that non-planned state and municipal control (supervision) over economic entities is conducted only in case of check of information received by state and municipal control (supervision) bodies from citizens, economic entities, individual entrepreneurs, government bodies, local government bodies and mass media:

- on emerging of the threat for people’s life and health, environmental pollution, emergency situations;

- on making damage to people’s life, health or to the environment.

The draft law excludes making property damage from the list of grounds for non-planned measures of state and municipal control, since the protection of property rights can be made in court in concordance with the civil legislation.

The draft law introduces the ban on conducting of duplicating control by different control and supervision bodies with regard to the one and the same object. In concordance with the draft law total annual time for conduction of control measures for all control bodies over micro-enterprises should not exceed 20 hours and for small enterprises - 70 hours.

3. Draft Federal Law “On making changes to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation concerning the issue of replacement licensing by civil responsibility insurance” As to licensed kinds of activities the draft federal law suggests replacing by insurance six kinds of activities: internal freights transportation by water; handling operations concerning dangerous freights in internal water transport; freights transportation by sea; handling operations concerning dangerous freights in sea ports; haulage operations by sea crafts (excluding the case when the activity mentioned is made to meet own needs of economic entities or individual entrepreneurs); post services rendering.

Suggestion on licensing substitution with civil responsibility insurance envisages the replacement of administrative barriers for entrance to the market by establishing the standards, stipulating availability of financial security for the activity, sustaining other forms of the state control currently in effect and established by the law, regulating separate kinds of activities.

4. Draft federal law “On making changes to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation” Currently in concordance with paragraph 25 article 11 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On police” policemen have wide authorities that are called out of processual and can be fulfilled without observance of procedures, envisaged by the Criminal Code and Code on the Administrative Offence of the Russian Federation.

In this connection the draft law makes changes to the Law “On police”, according to which it is possible to conduct measures aimed at offences and crimes suppression only on condition that there is a corresponding reason to initiate proceedings on administrative offence or prosecution on crime, and authorities when conducting such a measure should be guided only with procedures and the order of their implementation, which are stated directly in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and in the Code on Administrative Offence.

According to the draft law changes are made to part 5 article 27 of the Code on Administrative Offence of the Russian Federation, which establishes the procedure and requirements for requisitioning of things that were tools or objects of administrative perpetrations as well as documents that are important as evidence for the case on administrative offence or found when making inspection of the territories, premises, goods, transport vehicles or other property owned by the economic entity, as well as corresponding documents, excluding driving licenses, tractor operators licenses, navigator and pilot licenses.

Review of Economic Legislation I. Tolmacheva The following changes were made to the legislation in July: the sum from the testator’s deposit or account for testator’s funeral that can be given to the heir before six months after the day of heirdom opening have expired has been doubled; the date for cancellation of auditing service licensing is changed for 1 January 2009; the level of the maximum income of some groups of taxpayers from natural persons at which they have a right to enjoy standard tax deduction has been increased; changes have been made to the procedure of levy with excises; 12 organizations have been included in the list of international organizations, whose grants are not taken into account when levying the incomes of grant recipients with taxes; new refinancing rate of the Bank of Russia is established at the level of 11.0%; severance tax rate with regard to oil has been raised for June 2008.

I. Federal Laws of the Russian Federation 1. “ON MAKING CHANGES TO ARTICLE 1174 PART THREE CIVIL CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION” from 30.06.2008 No 105-FZ.

According to changes, made to the RF Civil Code, the sum from the testator’s deposit or account for testator’s funeral that can be given to the heir before six months after the day of heirdom opening have expired has been increased. Banks, on whose deposits testator’s cash assets are placed, should on solicitor’s statement give them to the person mentioned in the statement to pay for the testator's funeral. The amount of cash given is equal to RUR 40000 (earlier the sum was established at 20 times minimum wages, that is RUR 20000).

2. “ON MAKING CHANGES TO THE FEDERAL LAW “ON CONCESSIONS” AND SOME LEGISLATIVE ACTS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION” from 30.06.2008 No 108-FZ Changes aimed at the increase of efficiency of relationships between public establishments and private investors on the use of the assets, which are owned by the state or a municipality, on concession conditions.

Considerable changes were made to the Federal Law “On concessions”, concerning, for instance, specification of composition the immovable property that is the object of concession as well as the list of people that can act on behalf of the concedent. There are separate amendments that define in detail the rights of the parties of the concession. The list of significant conditions of concession agreement has been enlarged: conditions on the procedure for making amendments to the concession agreement and on the procedure for reimbursement of parties’ expenses in case its pre-schedule termination, compensation of forfeit for parties violating liabilities. The issues connected with the rendering of land and forest plots, water bodies or entrails plot to the concessionaire have been settled. Besides, the procedure for signing concession agreement has been changed. At the same time changes have been made to some legislative acts: to the Federal Laws “On state registration of the rights for the immovable property and of the deals with it”, “On appraising activity in the Russian Federation”, to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. For instance, the addenda made to the RF Tax Code regulate special features of VAT calculation and payment when conducting operations in accordance with the concessionary agreement. The list of incomes that are not taken into account when taxing with the company income tax income tax is extended with the incomes in form of property received in accordance with the concession, the procedure for determining of the initial value of such property is established; the payment made by the concessionaire during concession’s object exploitation is included in the list of expenses taken into account when forming the taxation base for incomes tax. The specific features for taxation of such objects with the enterprises’ assets tax have been defined.